


From Yell to Hell

by AceAroRights



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27440350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceAroRights/pseuds/AceAroRights
Summary: !! TRIGGER WARNINGS !!Implied child abuseComing from Spikemuth, Piers never had it easy.  He would make it work for Marnie's sake.
Relationships: Mary | Marnie & Nezu | Piers
Comments: 14
Kudos: 38





	1. Three days alone

It had been three whole days. Three. Piers knew it sometimes took mum a little while to get back after going out to drink, but it had never been this long. She’d usually be back in the middle of the night and hungover, and if Piers was lucky she’d come home in the morning or afternoon. But she had never done this before. At one day it was normal, at two, a special occasion, but at three? Piers highly doubted she was coming back

The rotting apartment only held a 12 year old Piers, a 2 year old Marnie, and a Zigzagoon that Piers had kept hidden for the past four-ish years. It wasn’t too hard to hide the pokemon with how little he was paid attention to, and now with both parents gone, the pokemon had been allowed free range over the home.

Piers stepped on the chair he had pushed to the food pantry earlier that day. Opening it up, all that was left was a couple beer cans and enough food to make a small dinner for the three of them. Reaching in, Piers pulled out all the food items and set them at their small splintering table. There were four slices of molding bread, a nearly finished jar of pecha berry jam, and a party sized bag of potato chips that was reduced to crumbs.

Piers got out three plates and a knife and began to make their meals. He took two of the bread slices and began to cut off the mold. After there were no longer any greenish spots, he stuck the knife into the jam, scooping it out onto the two bread slices. Grabbing another plate, he placed another piece of bread, keeping the mold. He poured about half of the chip crumbs onto it. Setting down the bag, he scrapped the small remainder of jam onto the side. On the final plate, he put the butt of the moldy bread and all of the remaining chips.

Content with the meal that he made, Piers rested his arms on the table to look over his work. He quickly retracted his arms after performing the action, feeling a sharp pain in his left upper arm. Bringing it to his face, he cringed when he saw a decent sized splinter stuck in it. He pulled out the wood piece and threw it into an overfilled trash can.

Grabbing the plate with the moldy bread, chips, and a scoop of jam on the side, he set it down for his Zigzagoon. The small pokemon didn’t hesitate and began to eat, seemingly not minding the mold. Going back to the table, he brought over the plate with the two clean pieces of bread and jam and sat in front of Marnie. He ripped off small pieces and gave them to her to avoid her choking. Marnie only ate about one and a fourth of her meal, so Piers gave the remainder to Zigzagoon. It happily ate the extra food.

Sitting down at the one chair pushed in at the table, he began to eat his moldy bread. He didn’t particularly like the taste of mold or the dry bread end, but Marnie and Zigzagoon’s comfort mattered more to him then his own. After choking down all the bread, he started picking up clumps of chips to throw into his mouth. The method showed to be ineffective the more his food pile dwindled, and he eventually brought the plate to his mouth and dumped the rest in. Some pieces missed, spilling onto him and the dirty floor.

Swiping the crumbs off of himself, Piers got up and grabbed one of the beer cans from the pantry. Walking over to their sink, he dumped out its contents. He filled it up with water and dumped it a few times before he was content. Filling it up with water once more, he began to take a drink. He brought the rest over to Marnie and helped her drink. Setting down the can, he grabbed all three plates and threw them into the sink. He filled the one with the least crumbs with some water and set it down for his pokemon.

Piers was beginning to feel mildly worn out and assumed Marnie was too. He scooped up his younger sister and carried her to their mother’s bedroom. Setting down Marnie, he pulled off the mattress and brought it to the floor. He had no intention of risking the possibility of Marnie falling off the bed. Laying a pillow and blankets over the mattress, he tucked in Marnie and gave her forehead a small kiss. “Goon, yah still drinkin’ in there? Come here when you’re done.”

Piers didn’t have to wait long before the small fluffy pokemon burst into the room, tongue hanging out with a happy expression. Piers couldn’t help but smile. “Go stay with Marn, I’ll be back soon. If anyone other than me comes into the house, yah got permission to do whatever yah want to em.” Zigzagoon seemed to have gotten the message and settled down next to Marnie.

Piers had faith his pokemon would keep her safe. He snagged one of his mother's big purses and left the bedroom, gently shutting the door behind himself. Putting on his worn out shoes that he could only just barely fit into as well as a decently nice furry coat multiple sizes too big, Piers stepped outside of their home. Walking down the creaking steps and pulling the coat just a bit tighter, his trip had begun.

As Piers went through the many alleyways in Spikemuth, he made sure to stay alert. Many dangerous people and sometimes pokemon could be found there and he wouldn’t be taking any risks. It was nearly impossible to see though, his only guide in the thick black of night being the moon and the occasional flickering lamp post. He dropped his guard only a little as he stepped onto the dirt path leading to Hammerlocke.

The grass rustled and the occasional cry of a pokemon could be heard. Piers picked up his speed. It wasn’t safe outside at night, hell, it also wasn’t the safest to leave Marnie, but going without food wasn’t safe either. A bright light became visible in the distance. Piers was now at a small jog.

When he arrived at Hammerlocke, his legs shook and he had to sit at a bench. The purse rested underneath him, and he clutched it protectively. When he felt like he wouldn’t collapse anymore, Piers entered the wild area. A couple signs littered the area warning trainers to bring strong pokemon with them, but Piers had none and was desperate. He ignored the signs and continued his mission.

From where he came down, he could already see the silhouette of a berry tree. He ran toward it, dodging Pumpkaboos, Ghastlys, and various other small pokemon. When he arrived at the tree, he sighed in relief. Shaking the tree with as much strength as he could muster, two sitrus berries and one hondew berry fell down. He stuffed all three of them into the purse he had brought.

Piers tried shaking the tree once more. A single wacan berry fell down on his head. Rubbing his forehead, he bent down and stuffed the other berry into the purse. The bag was already pretty full but it could fit more. Piers shook the tree once more. Nothing fell. He tried again. Still nothing.

Giving up, he traveled deeper into the wild area. Piers dropped the purse when a Noctowl whipped by him. If the berries weren’t already bruised, they were now. He sighed at his bad luck and hastily shoved any fallen fruit back into his bag.

Picking up the pace, Piers eventually arrived at another tree. In the distance he could see a third one as well as the glimmer water. Shaking the tree he was at now, three leppa berries, a petaya, and grepa berry fell. He fit all of them except two of the leppa berries, which he stuffed into his pocket. He wasn’t sure if it would hold, but he could always carry them in his hands if it broke.

Piers was about to give the tree one more shake when he heard a loud rustle. Watching the leaves above, a large Greedent hopped out of the tree landing in front of him. It didn't look happy, and Piers didn’t waste any time sprinting away.

When Piers felt there was enough distance between him and the angry pokemon, he fell to the ground. He was gasping for air and sweating, glancing around rapidly in an attempt to figure out where he was. Behind him was a sandy area with a lake while everywhere else was grass.

He had no clue where he was but had a general idea of where he had run from. Turning around and still panting, he began to trudge onward. He had enough berries and didn’t want to risk another encounter.

Piers’ gaze was all around, trying to locate some sort of landmark to help him get back to Marnie as quick as possible. His mission was quickly interrupted when he tripped over something on the ground. His bag spilled once more and pain shot through his right ankle. He put the berries back into the bag and patted his pocket. He felt the two round lumps and let out a small sigh of relief. With all his things gathered, Piers turned around to see a beaten up Stunky on the ground. Seeing the poor dark type pulled at his heart strings, and he refused to just leave it.

Scooping up the injured pokemon, he continued onward with a new limp. It wasn’t long until he could see the bright glow of Hammerlocke. With his hope renewed, he followed the lights until he got back to the city’s entrance.

First things first, he had to find a pokemon center. While he had never been into one himself, he was still aware of what they looked like and found one quite easily. As the doors automatically opened, he limped into the center and was quickly greeted by a worried Nurse Joy. Laying the injured Stunky onto the table, she scooped it up and brought it into a back area. Piers brought himself to one of the waiting chairs on the room’s side.

Piers wasn’t one to get embarrassed easily, but he couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious while in the pokemon center. It was a clean and pristine bright place meant for actual trainers. And here he was, a dirty boy with a feminine but filthy coat covering up worn out and holey clothes. The building was filled with shiny white and red with a fresh scent while Piers only brought muddy neutral tones and the scent of an ashtray.

He was startled when a staff member approached him only seconds after he had sat down. “Hello young man,” she said in a friendly tone, getting onto her knees to see eye to eye with Piers. “Can you tell me your name?” With manners beat into him, he responded quickly with a soft whisper. “Piers...” The woman smiled at getting a response. “Can you tell me what you were doing battling with your Stunky so late at night?” Piers nervously shifted in his seat and gestured to the stuffed purse. She glanced at the bag of bruised berries, her face flashing a look of confusion before she quickly put back on her smile. She kept smiling at Piers with an underlying look of wanting to hear more. “Needed food for me ‘n ma sister…”

The staff member’s smile dropped, unable to mask her confusion anymore. “Your sister? It’s past 1:00 am, surely this isn’t the time to go berry picking. That also doesn’t explain what happened to your Stunky.” Piers realized he had over spoke and shouldn’t have mentioned Marnie, but he wasn’t going to risk ignoring an adult’s question. “We ran out and Marn’ is sleepin’ right now, Goon’s watchin ‘er, she should be alright. Stunky ain’t mine though, found em when I got the food.” The woman’s confused face slowly warped into one of concern. “Where are your parents?” Piers could only shrug.

The woman suddenly stood up, making Piers flinch. He kept his eyes glued to her as she walked towards the back. Just as she opened the door, Nurse Joy exited with the Stunky in her arms. “Here you go, and stay safe.” Piers grabbed the pokemon and was about to leave. “Hey, please don’t go yet. I’d like you to stay here for a second.” It was the lady talking to him before. She tapped Nurse Joy, made a gesture towards the back room, and they went in.

This was all the time Piers, needed, and he limped as fast as he could out of the center. He had wasted enough time already and really needed to get back to Marnie. He didn’t slow down until he reached the wild area entrance. He set down the stunky, and pointed a finger at the ramp leading to a grassy area. “Was nice meetin’ yah, now go on.” The pokemon didn’t move, it just looked at Piers. He sighed. “Do whatever then.”

He began limping back towards Spikemuth. Hearing a small pattering of feet, he saw the Stunky following him. He smiled. “Alright mate, I’ll show ya home.”

The walk was uneventful but awful. The pain in Piers’ ankle was excruciating, but there wasn’t much he could do. It had to have been at least 2:00 am by the time Piers got back, and he dumped all the fruit onto a dirty counter. Limping tiredly with Stunky behind him, he opened his mum’s door. Marnie was sound asleep, but Zigzagoon awoke at the noise. “M’ back Goon. We got a new friend with us.”

Stunky trotted in, and Zigzagoon left the bed to investigate. The striped little pokemon yipped in joy, seemingly pleased with its new house mate. “Th-thas good. Glad you like em’ Goon.”

Piers was struggling to hold his body upright. He practically collapsed into the mattress on the floor, curling up to Marnie. He was too tired to take in how the overly comfy sleeping spot felt uncomfortable and weird. He’d think about that tomorrow or the next day when he could focus on something other than pain. The two pokemon made themselves at home with the two humans, curling on top of the blanket. Piers fell asleep.


	2. Four days alone

The sun hadn’t risen yet before Piers woke up to crying. Part of the mattress was damp, and he wasn’t very surprised by that. Marnie was very prone to wetting the bed, and Piers was used to doing this already. He scooped her up and limped with her to the bathroom. He cleaned her up the best he could and dried her off with an old towel that hadn't been washed in at least a month.

Exiting the room with Marnie, he weaved around the two pokemon that had come up to his feet. He set his sister down on the living room floor. Across from where she sat, Zigzagoon scrambled up a torn and worn out reclining chair. Watching their new friend go, Stunky hopped up and joined him.

Knowing he and everyone else was hungry, he tried to figure out how to ration the food. There were 6 larger berries and 3 smaller ones. If he skipped out on a meal, he could make the food last for a day but he’d need to go back to the wild area. He could stretch the rations out longer but it was necessary to keep Marnie and the pokemon well fed.

Starting off with the smaller berries, he threw Stunky and Zigzagoon each a leppa berry. He then grabbed a bowl as well as a fork. Putting the third and final leppa berry into the bowl, he tried to mash it up. It was somewhat hard and time consuming, but he eventually had it at a decent paste like consistency.

He turned to go bring Marnie the mashed fruit when a sharp pain shot up his right leg. He fell to one knee, gritting his teeth. Setting down the bowl and lifting up his pant leg, he saw that where he got hurt was a reddish purple and somewhat swollen. Ignoring how much it hurt as well as how bad it looked, he got back up and continued over to his little sister.

Piers sat cross legged in front of Marnie, happy to temporarily have the weight off of his ankle. She babbled at him, reaching her hand out and tugging at the hair over his eye. There was a small sting at his scalp, but it made Piers laugh. Setting down the bowl, he grabbed the pudgy little hand, removing it from his head. Picking up his sister and setting her onto his lap, he scooped a small bit of mashed fruit and brought it to her lips. She opened her mouth, sucking the goop from the fork. This process repeated until all of it was gone.

Taking his sister off himself, Piers struggled upward and rinsed the leftover food bits out of the bowl. Filling the bowl up with water, he sat it on the ground for his pokemon to drink. Looking back at the rest of the plates, he decided he’d clean those later in the day. Snagging the petaya berry from the counter, he sat down at the chair that was still pushed up next to it. Piers hungrily scarfed it down.

When he had finished eating, the water dish was empty and the pokemon were chasing one another, Marnie laughing at the antics. Piers refilled the water bowl and snagged the empty beer can. First filling up water for himself, he guzzled it down before getting some for Marnie. After she was hydrated and the can was cleaned up, Piers relaxed tiredly on the chair, watching over everyone in the house.

Piers wasted most of the day just sitting there and keeping his bad ankle off the ground. He had cleaned up Marnie again at one point, and after he fed everyone but himself lunch, they were only left with 3 large berries.

It was currently dark outside, and a chill slipped through a crack in one of the windows. Marnie and the pokemon were on the recliner couch chair as some sort of colorful kids show playing on their small staticky box TV. While Spikemuth didn’t have nearly the same amount of energy as the rest of Galar, there was just enough for pleasures like that. Piers had cleaned up the dishes and even the counter earlier in the day and had just finished cleaning up dinner’s remains. With Marnie fed, he tucked her into bed.

With everything at home taken care of, he threw back on his mom’s fur coat and prepared himself with two purses this time. “Come with me Goon. Stunk, stay and watch Marn, would yah?” Both pokemon listened to their commands.

Lucky for the two of them, not much happened on the way to the wild area. At one point they got attacked by a Ghastly but it was quickly chased away with a super effective bite. Sure, Piers might have had to stop every once and a while to sit down due to the pain, but that wasn’t too bad, right? Walking down the wild area entrance ramp, he made his way to the same berry tree as last time. When he was close enough to be under the tree’s leaves, his vision blurred a bit and he had to and reorient himself. When his vision came back, he filled the entire first purse with various berries.

Piers chose to walk down a different path than the last time to avoid running into Greedent again. Each step hurt. He continued. With the amount of pain he was in, Piers was really hoping he’d see another tree soon. The glow of Hammerlocke was fading yet none were in sight.

After more excruciating walking, Piers finally saw a tree. He ran towards it in excitement. Huh? The thud of a body hitting the dirt was audible. Piers’ head span, and he couldn’t make out what was up or down. The fuzz came back to his vision, and a worried barks slowly became muffled by what could only be described as his ears drowning in cotton. Nausea crept in his stomach, and then, nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you who left any form of support on my first chapter, thank you! With the small amount of tags, I'm honestly surprised at the small amount of attention it garnered. I apologize for the slightly smaller chapter, but chapter 3 should come out really soon. As always, leaving any form of comment or criticism is greatly appreciated!
> 
> On an unrelated note, I ordered one of the official Piers plushies a couple days ago. I think he's supposed to come before December, and I can't wait to get him!


	3. The mystery boy

Leon was firmly pushed away from the pot of curry being cooked. “Back off, last time I let you make it you managed to burn everything.” “It wasn’t everything. Plus, Charmeleon liked it!” The ginger haired girl scoffed at him. “Well, you burnt enough for it to come out black. And while your fire type liked it, me and the other pokemon certainly didn’t.”

He tried to think of a good come back, but Leon was completely stumped. He sat down and sighed in submission. “That’s what I thought,” Sonia huffed at him, stirring the curry. As much as he wanted to show he could cook and use a map on his own, Leon always managed to mess up. He was incredibly grateful that Sonia was traveling with him.

A rustling bush and the sound of running alerted Leon, and he got up in a battle stance. “Charmeleon, come over here and help me protect the curry.” Wild pokemon always got attracted by the scent and tried to get some. While they’ve lost a couple batches of curry to this, it was some pretty good battle training. A Zigzagoon leaped out and skidded to a stop. Leon was quick to react. “Charmeleon, brick break!” His pokemon lunged forward and tried to hit the small black and white pokemon but it dodged. “One more time!” Once again, the quick pokemon avoided the attack.

Seeing that the up close attack was failing, Leon adjusted accordingly. “Charmeleon, fire a stream of dragon breath!” The move just barely hit its target, causing the Zigzagoon to stumble to the ground. Most wild pokemon didn’t show this much potential, so Leon threw a pokeball at it. With a few shakes and a click, Leon had a new team member.

“Come on out Zigzagoon!” The red glow that shot from the ball quickly formed into his pokemon. Leon crouched down to grab him and show Sonia. Before he could lay even a finger on it, the Zigzagoon began to run away. “Ah, wait, come back!” Leon ran after it and ignored Sonia's yells to come back. The pokemon glanced back at Leon and continued onward.

Leon stumbled a bit but didn’t fall when his Zigzagoon stopped. “Hey buddy, why don’t we rejoin the-” Leon stopped talking and knelt down. Zigzagoon anxiously stood over a boy Leon’s age. He had short but messy white and black hair as well as dirty and worn clothing. Other than the fact there was a kid literally passed out and alone in the wild area, his relatively nice fur coat and bags stood out. Hold on, was that bag filled with berries? Leon decided collecting food out in the wild is fair, but what caused this kid to look so unwell?

Getting over the oddities of the situation, Leon picked the unconscious boy up bridal style. It was a good thing he used to carry Hop around a lot, otherwise Leon wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull this off. “Let’s get back to camp. Camp…” Yep, he was lost. Leon was about to spin in a circle and just walk in whatever direction he ended up facing, but Zigzagoon had started to walk away. Trusting his pokemon way more than his poor luck and navigation skills, he followed it. He could soon smell the scent of curry and felt relief knowing he wouldn’t get scolded by Sonia as much.

The sound of his shoes in dirt alerted the ginger. “Holy crap, you actually made it back!” She turned towards him, her excitement quickly turning to concern. “Who the heck is that and what did you do to them?” Leon set the mystery boy down. “I don’t know who it is, I just found him like this. And hey, why do you think it was me that did something!” Sonia sighed. “I’d give you a list on why I think you did something but this probably isn’t the best time for us to argue. Curry just got finished though, go and serve yourself and the pokemon. I’ll try to figure out what’s wrong with him”

Leon nodded and felt relief. He would have no clue what was wrong but Sonia wanted to be a professor, so she had to know.

Leon poured little bowls for Sonia's Yamper, Butterfree, Marril, and Steenee as well as his new Zigzagoon, Charmeleon, Palpitoad, Ryhorn, and Honedge. Now that Leon thought about it, how does Honedge even eat? He'd have to ask Sonia some other time.

Leon poured his and Sonia's bowl as she began to walk over. She took the bowl from his hands with a small thanks. Leon took a bite of curry before talking. "So, what's up with him?" Sonia sighed. "Don't speak when there's food in your mouth. But, to answer your question, he's got a really bad ankle and seems to be under fed. When he wakes up, he's definitely going to get some curry." While that explained pretty well why the boy was passed out, it made Leon even more curious about the more specific details of what happened to him.

Between himself and Sonia, Leon was always the first one done eating. This gave him the responsibility of setting up the tents, a chore he could actually do pretty well. By the time he had started putting up the second tent, Sonia and Marril were washing the dishes. Leon dropped the pole he was holding after hearing a disgruntled groan. The work he had gotten done crumpled to the ground but he didn’t mind. Turning his head over, he saw that the mystery boy was now awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now Sonia and Leon are here! I thought a shift in perspective would work nice for this chapter. Also I'd like to add in real quick that Leon has accidentally caught Piers' Zigzagoon. Due to Piers not having any money to buy actual pokeballs, he hasn't actually caught it.
> 
> But anyways, thank you to those who have been reading this! Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!


	4. A touch of assistance

The world faded back in as Piers sluggishly lifted his upper body into a sitting position. He had a headache, but that wasn’t too unusual. What was unusual was his surroundings. There was a good smell in the air, which he counted as odd, and near him was a large teal tent.

There was a loud clash of something being dropped, and Piers looked over, locking his eyes with a boy around his age. The boy had tan skin and eyes of molten yellow. He wore a mane of bluish purple hair that was trapped under an all black cap. Even with his limited knowledge of fashion, Piers could tell that this stranger had no concept of what looked good together.

After a couple seconds of awkward staring, the boy spoke up. “Uh, hey!” He gave a small wave then strolled up to Piers, kneeling after reaching him. “Well uh, me and Zigzagoon, wait no, Charmeleon was there, he grabbed your bags, but anyway, we found you passed out in the wild area. I’m Leon by the way! And you are?”

Piers ignored his rambling. “Where’s Goon?” Leon scrunched his brow. “Goon?” His question was quickly answered when a small black and white bundle leapt at the boy. He let out a small grunt from the force but quickly recovered, proceeding to stroke the pokemon’s head. “At least you’re alright.”

Leon connected the dots and then realized something unfortunate. “Wait, that’s your Zigzagoon? How did I catch him then?” If it was even possible, the color drained from the already incredibly pale boy’s face. He averted his gaze from Leon as negative emotions began to bubble up. “N-never caught em.”

That was odd to Leon. Pokeballs were super easy to buy, and in the chance he lived in the wild area, which seemed to be a possibility, it wouldn’t be too hard to just walk over to the pokemart in Hammerlocke. He was going to question the boy but was interrupted before he could even get out a syllable. “Leon, he just woke up, stop antagonizing him!”

Both boys looked over to Sonia, a bowl in her hands and Yamper at her feet. She crouched down to pass the bowl to Piers. “Here you go, homemade curry! Sorry for being blunt, but you look pretty underfed, so eat up. I’m Sonia, and I apologize that you had to deal with Leon alone for a bit. Can you tell us your name?”

Piers stared down at the food in his hands and could hear Leon grumbling over what Sonia had said about him. Looking up at her, he softly answered. “Piers. And thanks.”

Sonia smiled at him and gave and clapped Leon on the back. “Welp, we’ll leave you to eat for now. Come on, let's go set up your tent Leon. Me and Marill finished dishes so I’m not busy.” The two got up and walked off. Yamper followed them, barking happily at their feet. Piers watched for a little bit as they began setting up a dark indigo tent.

Now alone with just Zigzagoon, Piers took a small bite of the curry. It was great, easily some of the best, if not the best food he had ever eaten. He quickly took a couple bigger spoonfuls but stopped when he started to feel nausea creep into his stomach. A little more than half of his bowl was left, and he offered it to Zigzagoon. Despite just eating, the small pokemon eagerly gobbled up Piers’ food.

By the time Leon and Sonia finished setting up the tent, the curry bowl was empty. Sonia was suspicious and didn’t believe Piers had eaten all of it that fast but didn’t voice her concerns. She took the bowl and went away to have Marill wash it. Leon stayed behind to try and initiate another conversation. “So, about Zigzagoon…”

“You can keep him.” The pokemon in question looked startled. It whipped around and anxiously whined at Piers. He looked down at Zigzagoon and raised his hands in a defensive position. “Eh? H-hey, don’t be like that! I obviously don’t dislike yah, it’s just, well…” He looked away at the ground, looking at nothing in particular. “You’d be much safer here. And less ‘ungry. And warm. Just more comfortable overall.”

Leon fished for Zigzagoon’s ball from his pockets, pulled it out, and proceeded to clamp it into Piers’ hands. His eyes snapped back to Leon. “No, you keep him. I, well, I might not understand why he’d be safer with me, but I do understand that Zigzagoon would be sad without you. I wouldn’t have the heart to make a pokemon upset like that, so take his ball and know that we won’t let you just give him up.”

Piers had to look away from Leon’s harsh golden stare. “You, You’re right. ‘M sorry for sayin’ that Goon, pretty dumb uh me.” The pokemon seemed to forgive him with a friendly yip and nuzzle.

Just as the exchange had ended, Sonia had returned with outstretched hands. “Here, grab on. Are you able to stand?” Piers latched onto her and allowed himself to be partially tugged upward. As soon as he tried to put weight on his right leg, he crumpled to the ground with a hiss. A bit of the dizziness came back, and he clenched his eyes tight until the world stopped spinning.

Sonia put a hand to her chin with a disgruntled expression laid on her face. “Yep, not really sure what I expected. Your ankle is messed up pretty bad, let’s refrain from anything that’d make it worse. Leon, go find me a sturdy stick and bandages.”

Sonia knelt down next to Piers and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He turned his head towards her. With a small smile crossing her lips, Sonia continued talking to him. “Tonight you’re staying with us, but tomorrow after we bring you to a doctor, we can get you back to wherever you’re supposed to be.”

From what Sonia had seen, Piers had a constant blank expression that didn’t change all that much based on what he was feeling, the only give away being his clear body language. Some sort of exception must have occurred, because Sonia was slightly startled by the sudden panic that washed clearly over his face. “Oh shit, I should be back by now! Marn needs me!”

Piers began to push himself upward but was easily forced back into a sit by Sonia. “H-hey, let me, let me go!” He struggled weakly but quickly gave up, panting a bit from the small amount of exertion. Sonia was worried by his outburst but made sure to stay calm. “Hey hey hey, look at me. I’m not sure who Marn is, but I’m sure we can make some sort of arrangement so you can get to them.”

Piers' posture relaxed a bit but he was still clearly frazzled. He picked up Zigzagoon and brought him to his chest not unlike a child with a stuffed animal. The pokemon didn’t seem to mind and even calmed down from its usual antics.

A call broke out that made them both turn their heads. “I got the stuff Sonia, does this look good?” He placed a rather long but sturdy stick in Sonia’s hands as well as a roll of bandages. “These are good, could you just chop the stick in half?” Leon nodded. “Come over here Charmeleon! Use slash to cut this down the center!” The red lizard came over and struck the stick, leaving a clean, unsplintered separation between the two pieces of wood. “Thanks buddy, you can go off now.”

Sonia took the shoe off of Piers’ bad foot and placed the two sticks next to it. She began to gently wrap the bandage around it. Piers grit his teeth through the whole process, even the smallest pressures causing pain.

When she had finished, Sonia was rather pleased with her work. “I know this isn’t the best in the world but it’ll work for now. Before we plan anything extra yet, you gotta tell me who Marn is and why you’re so worried about them.”

Sonia watched as Piers looked away again, his grip slightly tightening around Zigzagoon. “Marns mah lil sis, two years old. She’s at home. Alone...” Sonia wasn’t sure what she expected but it certainly wasn’t that. “You left a two year old alone? Where the heck do you even live that you thought that could be an alright idea?” Piers shriveled under her harsh tone. “Spikemuth.”

Sonia began to feel a bit guilty. Now that she thought about it, lots of signs pointed to that being the boy's origins. Everyone was taught that Spikemuth was filled with filthy people, physically and with how they act. On top of that, most of them are lazy bumps without jobs too.. While he very much fit the bill appearance and money wise, Sonia just couldn’t really fathom someone this timid coming from a place of bad people.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I’ve heard people there aren’t that, um, er…” Sonia tried to think of a nicer way to say what she was thinking. “Not the best? Um financially! Yah! You probably can’t afford a babysitter...” Well that was still kind of awful to say. Sonia was saved from further embarrassment when Leon chimed in. “Siblings are very important! I say me and Sonia get you home tonight!”

Piers let Zigzagoon go and waved his hands in a defensive gesture. “Eh, n-no, don’t let me inconvenience you! I got here fine, I can get m’self home!” Leon shook his head stubbornly, determination burning in his eyes. “Zigzagoon can confirm you didn’t get here fine, I had to carry you!” An embarrassed blush passed Piers’ face. “S-sorry ‘bout that.”

Leon got up and grinned at him. “No problem! I actually got a brother a year older than your sister!” Leon flexed an arm to show off his little bit of muscle. “I have practice with carrying him around! But anyway, I’m calling a Corviknight taxi right now, we’re going to get you to a doctor and then get you home.”

Sonia sputtered at this. “H-hey! We need to get some rest tonight!” Leon shook his head again as he dialed the taxi number. “I don’t blame you because you aren’t an older brother, let alone sister of any kind, but us bros gotta take care of our younger siblings. They definitely come before sleep.”

Piers felt uncomfortable about the amount of trouble he was causing but didn’t say anything. They were his age, they wouldn’t hurt him, he was fine. Well, they might be a bit older than him, so that left things up to debate. Wait wait, that was a poor assumption, they’d helped him so much so far, they wouldn’t do that. Unless they wanted something? The thought vomit going through Piers’ head made his headache worse.

Leon hung up and put away his rotom phone. “Okay, one should be headed our way soon! Why don’t we just leave up our tents, we’ll get back before sunrise.” Sonia sighed. “Fine, but I’m gathering all our food stuff.” With that Sonia left.

Sonia’s words made Piers realize he had totally forgotten about his own food. “Crap, I didn't get any berries into the second bag.” Leon heard Piers mumble something but couldn’t pick out any full words. “What was that?” Piers turned to him, face turning red. “Eh, nothing nothing! I just didn’t get any food for my other bag, it’s okay, I don’t care.”

Leon may be stupid, but he could see through the lie. He grabbed the purse and went to Sonia. “I’ll clean up, can you go fill this up with berries, food, whatever?” She didn’t question it and threw some of their bread into it before using her rotom phone to locate nearby berry trees. “Stay safe, I’ll be back soon. Come on Yamper!”

Leon packed up their food, double checked it, then triple checked it. Sonia returned with a full bag and brought it to Piers. Leon watched them talk and put his bag onto his shoulders. After a bit, Sonia sped walked over and fished through her bag. “Where’s the curry book? Oh, nevermind, found it.” “What are you doing with it?” Sonia shook the book at him. “Apparently Piers has been living off of berries! While nutritious and enough healing properties to keep you from being ill, it’s still kind of a sad way to eat, you know?” Leon nodded in agreement.

As Sonia walked off and began to show the book to Piers, Leon looked up to see the shine of a Corviknight and carriage. It would be at their location very soon. “Come on guys, grab your bags, the taxi is here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised myself I'd make a new chapter when my Piers plushie came in, so here we are! All I can say is I love him and he was worth every bit of the $50. Well, I technically got him yesterday because it's almost 3 am right now, but ehhhh it's still wendsday in my eyes.
> 
> But anyways, starting next week I'll have a new upload schedule! I'll make sure to post an update every sunday and allow random extra chapters in between if I feel extra motivated one day
> 
> To end off this note, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who celebrates! And to those who don't, reasonable, I still hope you enjoy yourself though! As always, any comment is appreciated. Thanks for all your support!


	5. Returning home

Most of the taxi ride had just been awkward silence. It was a little cramped with the three of them and their bags but nobody commented on it. Everyone was relieved when the Corviknight landed.

Leon and Sonia put on their bags but Piers left his behind. Instructing the Corviknight to stay, Sonia and Leon helped Piers hobble into the left part of the pokemon center meant for people. After entering and answering basic questions, the workers took Piers and the two friends sat down.

After about 10 minutes of just sitting, Leon turned to Sonia. “Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m going to head on over to the pokemart across the street.” 

Sonia gave him a mischievous smile. “You sure you don’t want me to take you? You’ll probably get lost.”

Leon gently hit her on the shoulder. “Shut up, I’m not that stupid!” Sonia didn’t say anything in return but had an expression that clearly read as ‘are you sure about that?’ With an annoyed huff and a glare, Leon put his backpack on. “Well, see you in a couple minutes. If Piers is let out before I’m back, don’t take the taxi without me.”

Sonia laughed a bit. “Now you’re really being stupid, of course we won’t leave you behind. Just don’t take forever with your shopping,”

Leon smiled and gave her a nod. Before exiting, he tilted around to wave goodbye. Sonia waved back. Now content, he stepped through the door and entered outside.

Within seconds he was already inside the pokemart and grabbing a shopping basket. He wandered around a bit to see if there was anything eye catching. He stopped when he reached the pokedolls. There was your basic Sobble, Grookey, Scorbunny, and even more basic Clefairy. Among those, there was also Eevee and all of its evolutions.

After viewing over the choices of dolls with great contemplation, he grabbed an Umbreon and gently placed it into his basket. Confident with his choice, he snagged some pokeballs and checked out. His total was 2,100 pokedollars, leaving him with 28,300 left in his backpack.

Leon exited the mart with his purchase in a plastic grocery bag. Entering back into the center, he found Sonia with Yamper now on her lap. The dog like pokemon barked at him and the noise caused Sonia to look up. “Welcome back.”

Leon sat down next to her while she rubbed Yamper’s back. Still petting her pokemon, Sonia leaned over into Leon’s space, craning her neck to try and see what was in his bag. “So, show me what you got.”

Sticking his hand in, Leon pulled out the Umbreon toy first. It definitely wasn’t what Sonia expected and she couldn’t help but giggle. Leon didn’t seem to notice or just ignored her reaction so Sonia decided to not comment on it. “So uh, anything else?”

Leon put back the Umbreon and pulled out a single pokeball. “I got nine total. I think it’s a good amount in case a few get lost while trying to catch pokemon.”

“Is that everything?” Leon nodded in confirmation. They sat in a short silence before Sonia spoke once more. “Wait, don’t we already have a bunch of pokeballs? Heck, I’m pretty sure we even have some grea-” Sonia was interrupted by a ding.

Both Leon and Sonia followed the noise to see Piers come out with a brace on his ankle and crutches. He was a bit wobbly but could get around much better than before. Leon flashed him a big smile. “Ready to roll?” He got a small nod in response.

The trio exited the building and hopped into the waiting taxi, Sonia returning Yamper to its ball. As the big metal bird started flying them to Spikemuth, Leon gave Piers the shopping bag. “Here you go! I got these for you since it seemed like you’d need them.” Piers looked up from his gift with wide eyes. Leon scratched the back of his head. “Well, I guess you don’t need the doll, but I thought your sister might like it.”

Piers’ eyes watered but he didn’t cry. “Thank you.” He gave them a genuine smile, one of the first emotions you could easily read from his face.

Leon and Sonia had both decided then that any hassle they went through that night was completely worth it for this moment. Something about seeing the timid boy who was quick to turn down their help be happy and accept a present warmed their hearts.

After a little more time passed, the Corviknight landed. Piers began slinging his two purses over his left arm before Leon took them off and put them over his own shoulders. “Woah woah woah, what are you doing? You aren’t going to be able to carry those with crutches.”

Piers turned his gaze over towards said crutches. “W-well, y’know, Spikemuth is dangerous and I don’t want either of yah getting hurt. Who else would carry ‘em?”

While this response definitely disturbed Leon a bit, it only made him more stubborn on his decision. “If Spikemuth is dangerous for me, Galar’s future champion, then it’s definitely not safe for someone with a bad leg.”

Piers wanted to tell Leon no. He wished he had strong enough arms to wrestle his bags back. He wished his leg wasn’t bad, and that he could run fast enough to leave them behind. But he couldn’t. He wanted to apologize. But those only work so long before people tell you to prove it. “I’ll repay you, I swear. I don’t ‘ave much, me an’ Marn. Er, well, lemme think… Oh! You can ha-"

"How about you repay me by letting us help you. And if you want to repay Sonia, she’d probably like if you went to sleep when you get home. Also! How long did the doctor say to rest for?"

"A month."

"Well, we helped you for a night so you can spend this whole month helping us by taking care of yourself. Sounds almost a little unfair on your end but you were the one who wanted to repay us!"

Piers blinked. He was speechless. Not really focused on anything, he let Leon pull him to his feet. With a brief glance at Sonia, he only barely registered that she had the plastic bag with Leon's purchase. They exited the taxi and entered Spikemuth.

They walked in a straight line, Piers in front to lead, Sonia at back. Leon's Charmeleon was beside Piers, using its flame to help them better see in the dark as well. The strong pokemon also threatened away possible thieves. In the case Charmeleon wasn’t enough, Sonia's Butterfree fluttered above them, scanning the area in case it needed to use sleep powder or a super effective bug move. Sonia herself was charting their path on Rotom for an easier trip out while Leon focused on not losing the group.

As they trekked, the three of them discussed random things from favorite color to dreams. Leon was surprised when Piers had said he could play guitar. "Really? Who taught you?"

"Well, I had always liked music. At one point when mum was datin' one of the band members from a bar, she convinced 'im to teach me the guitar. I was a natural at it, and soon she got me mah own to play and make money for ‘er"

After talking a bit more about what songs he could or liked to play, Piers asked Leon a question. “Hey, yah mentioned wantin’ to be champion or something. You’re talking about pokemon champion, right?”

Leon nodded and was happy to answer any battle related questions. “I don’t just want to be champion, I’ll definitely be the next one! That’s why we were in the wild area actually. We wanted to get in some extra training before battling the gym at Stow-on-Side. Do you plan on ever entering the gym challenge?”

“Never thought about it. They don’t really endorse people from Spikemuth anyway.”

“Well, I guess I got lucky with always having the option to get endorsed by Professor Magnolia with Sonia. I got even luckier though, apparently my beginner battling skills with Charmander impressed Chairman Rose enough for him to personally endorse me.”

Piers hummed a small acknowledgment. He had never met the chairmen, heck, he didn’t even know what he looked like, but that wouldn’t stop him from resenting him. It was clear from all lights and other things in just Hammerlocke that the chairman had lots of money to throw around. Despite this, it seemed he couldn’t even put a tiny bit of it towards giving Spikemuth better living conditions.

Before they all knew it, the group had arrived at Piers’ home with no complications. Piers entered first, and the noise of his crutches hitting flooring must have woken up Stunky. The small pokemon exited the room Marnie was sleeping in and ran over to the door, investigating the odd man made sticks Piers held.

While the crutches were given curiosity, Leon and Sonia received hostility. Stunky got into a battle stance and growled, ready to protect its trainer. “Don’t worry Stunk, they’re good.” The pokemon sat down and relaxed. Piers looked back to the two trainers. “Sorry ‘bout that, told ‘im to protect Marn while I was out.”

While Sonia made sure Piers knew they didn’t mind, Leon was letting his eyes wander around the home. Almost everything was stained with long use, breaking apart, or both. The door they had entered the house through led to a room that was a combination of the living room and kitchen, the only separation between the two being a change of dirty flooring. If you viewed both sections as a whole, it was approximately the size of his own living room. The rest of the house was hidden in a hallway, the entrance to it next to a TV so old Leon has only seen it in pictures.

“You can set the stuff on the counter or table,” Piers instructed, snapping Leon out of his analysis.

“Oh yah, sure.” He took the plastic bag from Sonia and weighed his options. While the small counter was rather disgusting, he was pretty sure the table’s wooden shards could easily tear a bag. Leon set the three of them on the counter behind a chair, careful to not touch anything. He snatched the Umbreon and brought it back to Piers.

“Well, me and Sonia are going to head back to the camp. Now whatever you do, make sure to stay put and let your ankle heal. I’m sure your mom will let you slack off when she gets home.”

An expression Leon couldn’t read flashed across Piers’ face before vanishing. He just nodded his head and gave a forced smile. “Yep. Bye though, hope to see you both again.”

“Don’t worry, I bet you we’ll meet again, right Sonia?”

“Yep! Well, bye Piers, you and your sister take care, alright?”

Piers smiled again, this time genuine. “Thanks, I will.” With that, he opened the door and watched the two trainers walk away until he could no longer see them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Leon and Sonia fans but we won't be seeing either of them in a while now! On a positive note, the focus will now be on Piers and his team, so you all can look forward to that!
> 
> A special thanks to everyone who left a comment! I don't sign onto my ao3 account to often so I apologize for missing them. But thank you everyone else just for reading! It's really motivating to know people are actually seeing my work.


	6. The beginning of a month

It was currently early afternoon. Piers sat on the couch and practiced the guitar as Marnie played on the floor with Stunky and Zigzagoon. It was only last night that he was with Sonia and Leon.

In the time he had been home, Piers made sure to officially catch Stunky as well as not over exert himself. He wasn’t used to staying put, and a nagging anxiety told him that there were things he should be doing. Getting rest was supposed to be a reward after hard work, not something you can just do all day.

One thing he did that morning was try to make curry with the basic instructions in Sonia’s recipe book. If you ignored the clashing flavors, it came out surprisingly well, and it took much less energy and waste then mashing berries for Marnie every meal. While the dish took a good chunk of their berry supply, it would be able to last them through the entire day, maybe even until tomorrow's breakfast if he skipped dinner.

Piers suddenly realized a huge problem. His fingers stopped strumming the chords, and he slowly slid his guitar off to the side. How would they get more food? While he could go himself, it wasn’t worth the risk of permanently screwing up his ankle. He didn’t have a phone to call food delivery, and even if he did, no services in other parts of Galar risked going through Spikemuth. Assuming he had a phone, could walk to the Spikemuth entrance to pick it up, but even then he’d have no money.

As Piers struggled to find a solution, he watched his pokemon circle Marnie. She would stretch out to grab one but they were already gone. She turned her body in an attempt to keep up but it didn’t help at all. Piers eventually stopped his thinking to just watch them all play.

Then, it hit him. He could send his pokemon. They couldn’t carry a bag, but they could bring back one berry at a time. If one thing of curry took about eight berries, and if Stunky and Zigzagoon could make four back and forth trips in a day, they would be all set. The plan was risky, but it was the best they had until Piers had two working legs.

“Goon, Stunk, come ‘ere real quick, would yah?” The two pokemon stopped circling Marnie and walked over to him. “I’m sorry to put this on yah both, but I need some help. ‘Cause I can’t walk, can you start takin’ trips to the wild area? You can eat as much as yah want there as long as yah each bring back a berry to make curry with, aight?” His pokemon gave noises of agreement.

Piers let out a sigh of relief knowing that problem was cleared. “Alright, I’m gonna let yah go now. Lemme get the door.” Piers grabbed his crutches and pushed himself out of the seat. His pokemon followed behind him and ran out the door as soon as he opened it. With everything settled, Piers sat back down.

He instantly began to worry about his pokemon, so to ignore those feelings he started playing the guitar again. After a while he noticed that Marnie had moved over to watch him. He stopped to give his full attention to her. “Watcha doin’ Marn?” Apparently he did something wrong, because Marnie burst into tears. Marnie crying always sent Piers’ stress through the roof, regardless if he could easily stop it or not. He strummed at the guitar again, missing a lot of notes in his panic. 

That was the correct choice. Marnie’s wail calmed down into sniffling, and then she began to laugh. With his sister calmed down, Piers’ playing became much better. This continued until Marnie inevitably lost interest and started to wander off.

Being the doting brother he is, Piers officially set down his guitar to make sure his sister didn’t get into anything dangerous. She crawled around and eventually pushed herself up into a standing position. She tried to take a step but fell onto her legs. Marnie began to cry again.

Piers was already getting onto his crutches and hobbling over to her. He kneeled down and sat her on his lap. “Hey hey hey, you’re alright Marn. Don’t cry.” The crying continued, so Piers grabbed his front hair tuft and began tickling Marnie with it. She quieted down and stopped to yank at the hair. After she finished playing with and eating his hair, she promptly fell asleep while still on Piers lap. He had no way to carry her while using crutches, leaving him stuck.

In his uncomfortable sitting position, Piers began to ponder about his sister. Shouldn’t she be able to walk with no trouble at this point? Should she be able to talk? He had no clue, the only toddler he knew was Marnie, and he couldn’t remember any details from his baby years. Piers decided he’d try to work on those with her soon just in case. For now, he sat with his sister, waiting for his pokemon to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any returning readers, PLEASE READ!!! I will be going on hiatus for the Christmas season to focus more on making various gifts (sewing and art to those who are curious). I should be back by January though!
> 
> But anyways, apologies for the shorter chapter! I've been doing lots of other work so it's been hard to find the time to get it done. I only have one chapter idea for within the month Piers has a bad leg, and I feel like that's a big time skip for just starting out the story. So to any commenters, feel free to leave suggestions of what you'd want to see in this time frame! Alternatively, if you guys think the time skip would work better I can totally just do that.
> 
> Thanks again to all of you for reading my stuff! I'll probably reply less to comments but do know I read them all and seeing you take time out of your day to leave one flatters me. To those who celebrate anything this month, happy holidays! And to those who don't, you only got a month and a half until they finally shut of the Christmas music so good luck!


	7. Recovery

At one week into Piers being stuck in a leg brace, all things considered, everything had been going pretty well. He had much more time to relax, play with Marnie, practice guitar, and improve his curry making skills. Stunky and Zigzagoon slept most of the time they were home, but food was plentiful and they were content.

At the current time, three weeks into Piers being stuck in a leg brace, he felt like he was going insane. He should be working, doing something productive to help out. He felt bad about leaving the heavy tasks to his pokemon but they didn’t seem to mind. With all the exercise they’d been put through, the little pokemon were much stronger.

Piers was trying to make a sweet curry. While him and his pokemon will eat nearly anything, Marnie is a bit picky. She doesn’t like the bitter or sour curry as much, making it much harder to get her to eat. Piers has no clue how she would react to spicy curry but he wouldn’t dare give his little sister something that’d hurt her mouth, resulting in him regularly eating the spicy berries.

Piers sampled his dish. It tasted great, abnormally so. “Goon, Stunk, where’d yah get the berries? Curry’s never this good.” Zigzgoon barked back at Piers in response, balancing on just its hind paws and tail while flapping their front arms. Stunky attempted to copy Zigzagoon but lost balance, falling to the side and taking its friend down with it.

While confused, Piers laughed a bit at their antics. “Well, I don’t know how you got em, but good job.” Piers gave a curry serving to his pokemon and Marnie. He was tempted to take a serving for himself but couldn’t in good conscience. He did no work other than throw fruit in a pot, his pokemon and sister deserved it way more then him.

Piers plopped back down onto the couch with a lazy thud. He began to eat his dinner, a single tamato berry. Piers' mind drifted off into a daydream, only briefly noting his food was also juicer and hotter than usual. When he finished eating, he just continued to stare off.

Piers was ripped from his trance when Stunky launched itself onto his lap, quickly followed by Zigzagoon. The small raccoon pokemon began licking its trainer’s face while Stunky pawed at his chest. Piers softly laughed, picking up his pokemon and setting them to the ground. “Alright, you two still have a surprising amount of energy, why don’t we try training?” The happy yips he received was a good enough answer.

Snagging his crutches, Piers hobbled over to the door. Stunky and Zigzagoon rushed outside as soon as he opened it. Piers followed them out and shut the door. “Alright, quickly show me what moves yah got.” Zigzagoon showed off its tackle, sand attack, snarl, and lick while Stunky showed off its poison gas, screech, acid spray, and fury swipes.

“Okay, uh, Goon, use tackle! Stunk, use fury swipes!” Zigzagoon dashed towards Stunky. The skunk pokemon scratched at Zigzagoon, but the momentum the other pokemon had built up still allowed it to land a hit. They skidded apart, waiting for their next command. “Stunk, acid spray! Deflect it with a sand attack Goon!”

The battling continued on like this for a while. The match was about even, and both pokemon were getting worn out. “Goon, tackle then lick! Stunk, dodge then use-” Piers’ sentence was abruptly cut off by shouting.

“WHOEVER THE HELL IS OUT THERE, I WILL COME OUT AND FUCKING STRANGLE YOU IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP!” The shouting startled the pokemon, any moves being readied stopped. Piers froze at the voice. With his mom being gone for nearly a month, he had gotten used to a lack of shouting. His heart pounded, and his breath quickened. He shut his eyes and zoned out the world.

A numb pressure was put on his arms. The touch slowly felt more and more real, and he opened his eyes to realize his pokemon were at his sides. Huh? When had he sat down on the floor? Piers wasn’t sure, but he got up with his crutches, heart still pounding but breathing slower. “Come on,” he whispered, “let’s go to bed for tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back! I apologize for bringing such a short chapter that's mostly filler after being gone for nearly two months. With my hiatus over, expect more regular updates on Sundays! Although I didn't actually work on any writing, I did map out the design and draw a basic reference for a future character coming up. And if you're like me and you don't particularly like OCs, don't fret! I will only add original characters if they're needed for the plot to make sense (for example, you can expect me to make a gym leader for Stow-on-side due to both Allister and Bea being to young to be there).
> 
> Unrelated to the fic, but have any of you seen the newest op for the journey's anime? They gave Leon the fricking map and he looks incredibly lost, top tier comedy. I'm also absolutely devastated that they're driving around in a car-izard (why exactly? idk). But ooh baby, Gary and Iris returning? I'd prefer to see Paul return and Piers appear (he should have been in the Eternataus arc with Leon and Raihan), but you better believe I'm still hyped.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! While I might not respond, I read every comment and love hearing from you all! See you again next week!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, so I'm open to all criticism! I also may mess around if I accidentally formatted something wrong. If you liked or disliked anything, I'd love to read any comments.


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